Strike and chime clock.



F. WEHINGER. STRIKE AND GHIME GLOGK.

APPLICATION FILED APR.20, 1914.

1,128,737. Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

w Jig-SH F. WEHINGER.

STRIKE AND GHIMB CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED APR.20, 1914. 1,128,737..

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

, t a? a F. WEHINGER.

STRIKE AND CRIME CLOCK.

APPLIOATION FILED APR.20, 1914.

1,128,737. Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

FREDERICK .WEHINGER, 0F WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0 WATERBURY CLOCK 00., 0F WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

' STRIKE AND CHIME CLOCK Specification of Letters Fatent.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

Application filed Apri120. 1914. Serial No. 833,090.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, FREDERICK WEHINGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Strike and Chime Clocks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in-

Figure 1 a view in front elevation of a strike and chime clock movement constructed in accordance with my invention, the parts being shown in the positions due to them after the completion of a chime cycle,

or in other words, after the chime for the fourth quarter or on the hour has been completed, and just as the clock is about to strike the hour. Fig. 2 a plan view of the movement with some of the members of the time, strike and chime trains omitted for the sake of convenience. Fig. 3 a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the parts in the positions due to them just before the chime 1s rung to mark the first quarter of the hour. Fig. 4: a view of the movement in rear elevation with its parts in the positions in which they are represented in Fig. 1, with the chime-hammers shown by broken lines in their raised positions in which they are cut out of action. Fig. 5 a broken sectional view on the line (0-6 of Fig. 4, showing how the chime wheels are mounted upon the hub of a driven wheel. Fig. 6 a detached broken perspective view, showing the coaction of the leather plugs in the chime out out segment with the tail of the strikehammer. Fig. 7 a detached broken view of the turn-back'rocker. Fig. 8 a view showing a bar of music noting the full chime on the hour. Fig. 9 a corresponding view showing the notes struck at the completion of the first quarter. Fig. 10 a corresponding view showing the notes struck at the completion of the second quarter. Fig. 11 a corresponding view showing the notes struck at the completion of the third quarter.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of strike and chime clocks which sound a sequence of notes or ring an air at the completion-of-every quarter, the object being to produce a simple andreliable strike and chime clock constructed with particular reference to minimizing the number of parts and to locating the parts requiring adjustment in positions where they are readily accessible for the purpose.

With these ends in view, my invention consists-in a strike and chime clock having certain details of construction as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, I employ a gradual rise, hour-strike releasing-cam 2 mounted upon the projecting forward end of an arbor 3 carrying a chime-count wheel 4 which is located in front of the front movement-plate 5. The said wheel 4 is formed with four notches 6, 7, 8 and 9, spaced apart to virtually divide the periphery of the wheel into progressively lengthening periods and receiving the inwardly turned finger 10 of the arm 11 of a three-armed chime-train lockinglever 12 held in place by a spring 13 and turning upon a screw stud 14 mounted in the plate 5. The edge of the said cam 2 is ridden upon by an inwardly projecting pin 15 mounted in the extreme right hand end of a long horizontally arranged hour-strike releasing-lever 16 hungupon a screw, stud 17 in the plate 5 and provided at its left hand end with a short upwardly extending warning-arm 18 having its end turned in ward at a right angle to form a finger 19 reaching through a slot 20 in the plate 5 into position to engage with a warning-pin 21 upon the fourth wheel 22 of the striketrain, the said wheel carrying a lanternpinion 23 meshed. into by the third wheel 24; of the said train which may be of any approved construction and arrangement. The said third wheel 24 is mounted upon a stafi' the projecting forward end of which is furnished with a gathering-hub 26 carrying two oppositely located gathering-pins 27 coacting with the teeth of a segmental strikerack 28 located upon the outer end of an arm 29 hung upon a screw stud 30 in the plate 5. The hub of the rack-arm 29 carries a spring arm 31 commonly known as a rack hook and formed at its outer end with a beveled tooth 32 co-acting with a snail 33 mounted upon the inner end of the into and is driven by a minute-pinion 37 carried -by a minute-wheel 38 turning upon a stud 39 and itself meshing into and driven by the cannon-pinion which is not shown but tolbe understood as mounted in the usual manner upon the center-arbor 35. The pin 21 in the fourth wheel 22 of the striketrain also co-acts with a finger 40 turned inward through a slot 41 in the plate 5 from the upper end of an hour-strike locking lever 42 hung upon a stud 43 in the plate 5 and furnished with an operating-pin 44 coacting with the upper edge of the lever 16. The said lever 42 is also provided with a rack-holding pin 45 which successivel engages with the teeth of the rack 28 for olding the rack in the positions into which it is lifted, step by step, by the gathering-pins 27 of the hub 26.

Under the construction described and by means of the cam 2 which is of gradual rise, the power required for releasing the hourstrike train at the conclusion of the hour is distributed between the four phases of one complete chime cycle instead of being thrown entirely upon the chime-train during the last phase of the operation thereof, or, in other Words, during the running of the chime-train for the playing of a chime on the hour.

The chime-train which may be of any approved construction, is released once in fifteen minutes by means of a chime-releasing cam 46 mounted upon the center-arbor 35 and provided with four equally spaced cam-teeth 47 having straight edges and rounded outer faces and coacting with the depending actuating-finger 48 of a turnback rocker 49 swinging upon a pivot 50 mounted in a horizontally arranged chimereleasing lever 51 located below the hourstrike releasing-lever 16 aforesaid and pivotally hung upon a stud 52 in the plate 5. The outer edge of the said finger 48 is beveled, while its inner edge is made straight, in conformity with the teeth of the cam 46. The said turn-back rocker 49 is formed with a lifting-arm 52 which engages with the lower edge of the lever 51 with which it is held in engagement by a' counter-weight 53 forming another arm of the rocker. The lifting-arm 52 limits the movement of the rocker 49 from left to right but not from right to left, so that in setting the clock, if the center-arbor 35 is turned counter clockwise the straight inner edges of the teeth 47 of the'cam 46 will engage with the straight inner edge of the finger 48 of the turn-back rocker 49 and swing the same idly from right to left. As ,the teeth 47 clear the tooth 48 when the arbor 26 is turned counter clockwise, the counter-weight 53 will restore the rocker to its normal position in which its lifting-finger 52 is engaged with the lower edge of the lever 51.

As the lever 51 is raised by the lifting action of the chime-releasing cam 46 upon the turn-back rocker, a lifting-pin 54 mounted at the right hand end of the lever presses against the lower edge of the left hand arm 55 of the three-armed chime-train lockinglever 12, whereby the same is swung from left to right so as to simultaneously clear the inwardly bent end 10 of its arm- 11 from one or the other of the four notches 6, 7, 8 and 9 in the chime count-wheel 4 and to release the chime-train by the disengagement of the inwardly turned upper end 56 of the right hand arm 57 of the said lever 12 from a stop-pin 58 mounted in the fourth wheel 59 of the chime-train which also comprises as herein shown (Fig. 2) a pinion 60, a third wheel 61, a main wheel 62 and a spring 63. The said wheel 61 is mounted =upon the arbor 3 which carries the hourstrike releasing-cam 2 at its forward end as already described.

To provide for warning the chimetrain, the lever 51 is furnished at its extreme right hand end with a warning-finger 64 extending through a slot 65 in the plate 5 and engaging with a warning-pin 66 upon the fourth wheel 59 of the chime-train. The finger 64 engages with said pin 66 immediately after the releasing action of the arms 11 and 57. Then when they are respectively disengaged from the chime count-wheel 4 and the stop-pin, 58 carried by the wheel 59, thechime-train'will be momentarily held against running by the finger 64 and the pin 66. Now when the finger 48 of the turnback rocker 49, drops over one of the teeth 47 of the chime-releasing cam 46, the chimetrain will be released and allowed to run, during which time the inner edge of the finger 10 of the arm 11 will ride upon the edge of the chime count-wheel 4 which will thus act to hold the three-armed lockinglever 12 in position to permit the chimetrain to run until just before the chime has been finished when the spring 13 will swing the lever 12 from right to left and enter the finger 10 into the next succeeding notch of the count-wheel 4 without, however, abruptly stopping the said count-wheel 4 which will travel before being stopped, for a distance represented by thewidth of the bottom of the notch. Thisentran'ce of the finger 10 into one of the notches permits the lever 12 to be swung from right to left sufiiciently to bring the finger 56 of the arm 57 of the front movementplate 5 over which they are-distributed, as 1t were, so as to be readily accessible for all purposes of easy adjustment. 1 also wish to call attention to the fact that the three-armed chime-train locking-lever l2 performs several locking functions which in .the clocks of the prior art have been performed by several independent parts, all adding to the complexity of the clock and to the liability of derangement. The lever 12 being in one piece is not only easy to make, assemble and adjust, but cannot in itself get out of order.

Turning now to the back of my improved chime-clock movement, the projecting rear end of the arbor 3 carries a wheel 67 meshing into a wheel 68 turning on a stud 69 in the rear movement-plate 70. The wheel 68 in turn meshes into and drives a wheel 71 located at the inner end of a hub 72 turning upon a chime-wheel stud 73 in the rear plate 70. The said hub 72 has mounted upon it, as shown, four chime-wheels 74, 7 5, 7 6 and 77, held apart by spacing washers 78 and secured in place by means of screws 79. These chime-wheels are provided with beveled teeth which will be varied in number and disposition according to the character of the sequence of notes or air to be played. As the hub 72 revolves the teeth of the said chime-wheels engage at differentiated intervals with the respective operating-fingers 80 or four chime hammer-bars 81 carrying hammers 82 and-provided with hubs 83 by means of which they are spaced upon a hammer-stud 84 in the plate 7 0.

An hour-strike hammer-bar 85 carrying the hour-strike hammer 86, is hung upon the inner end of the stud 84 and provided with a hooked lifting-arm 87 co-acting with lifting-pins 88 located in a strike-hub 89 mounted upon the projecting rear end of the staff 25 carrying the gathering-hub 26.

-The hammer-bar 85 and the arm 87 are rigidly applied to the opposite faces of a hub 90 whichis sleeved over the said stud 84. In order to give more force to the blow of the hammer 86, its bar 85 is provided with a tooth-like hammer-tail 91 the lower face of which is engaged by a hammerspring 92 (Fig. 4) exerting a constant effort to throw the hammer 86 against its bell which is not shown.

To provide for cutting out the chime feature of the clock when desired, I employ a rocking segment 93 mounted upon the projecting rear end of a rocking-arbor 94 the projecting forward end of which is furnished with an operating-handle 95. The said segment 93 is furnished with a rearwardly projecting horizontal combined cutout and stop-arm 96 extending over and close to the upper edges .of four stop-arms 97 forming extensions of the chime hammerbars 81 and holding the hammers 82 in proper positions above their bells which are not shown. By swinging the segment 93 downward from left to right, the cut-out arm 96 engages with the upper edges of the several stop-arms 97 whereby the several hammer-bars 81 are simultaneously lifted into their elevated retired positions shown by broken lines in Fig. 4 in which their operating-fingers 80 are cleared from engagement with the teeth of the chime-wheels 74, 75, 76 and 77, so that although these wheels will be periodically rotated as before, they will not operate the chime-hammers.

The hour-strike hammer-bar 85 is prevented from dropping too far by the engagement of the beveled upper edge of its hammer-tail 91 with the segment 93 as shown in Fig. 6. In order that this engagement may be noiseless,I insert leather plugs 98 in the edge of the segment in the two positions in which the same operates with respect to the tail 91. The undue movement of the segment 93 from right to left is prevented by a stop-pin 99 mounted in its outer edge and engaging with the adjacent edge of the rear plate 70.

It has seemed unnecessary to show or de scribe in detail the time, strike and chime trains which may be varied to suit the particular design of the movement. As shown, the movement is provided with a strikespring 100, driving the main strike-wheel 101, and with a time-spring 102 driving the main time-wheel 103. The following explanation may, however, be made of the manner in which the chime-train releases the strike-train, and of the operation of the latter. The chime-train driving the strike releasing-cam 2, causes the same to gradually lift the hour-strike releasing-lever 16 which is provided in its extreme righthand end with a pin 15 riding upon the edge of the said cam 2. As the lever 16 is raised, it operates through the pin 44 resting upon its upper edge, to swing the hour-strike locking-lever 42 from right to left, the said pin 44 being mounted in the said lever 42 and operating the same. As the lever 42 swings from right to left, its inwardly turned arm 40 is disengaged from the warning-pin 21 in the fourth wheel 22 of the strike-train. The said wheel 22 will now turn until the warning pin 21 is brought into engagement with the inwardly turned finger 19 of the warning-arm 18 at the inner end of the lever 16. The striketrain is now restrained during a brief warning period, at the termination of which the said train is released by the dropping of the pin 15 off the high point of the cam 2 which meanwhile has been slowly revolved by the chime-train. The instant the pin 15 drops off from the high point of the cam 2, the warning-finger 19 of the warning-arm 18 is disengaged from the warning-pin 21, leaving the strike-train to run and strike the hour. When the hour strike locking-lever 42 was moved, as described, by the lifting of the lever 16 against the operating pin 44, the said pin was disengaged from the teeth of the rack 28, and the same thus permitted to fall, as

shown in Fig. 1, into position to be lifted step-by -step during the running of the strike-train, by the gathering pins 27 of the hub 26. Therefore, as soon as the striketrain begins to run, the rotation of the hub 26 will cause the gathering-pins 27 to lift the rack 28 in the usual manner of rack-andsnail strike mechanisms. The gatheringhub 26 is mounted upon the projecting forward end of a stafl 25 the projectingrear end of which is provided with a strike-hub 89, having lifting-pins 88 co-acti'ng with the lifting-arm 87 of the hammer-bar 85 carrying the strike-hammer 86. In this manner, the chime-train releases the strike-train which latter strikes the hour upon the bell in the usual manner of rack-and-snail strike mechanisms. The chime itself may consist of a sequence of notes or a chord. Commonly in quarter-hour chimes, the chime increases in length as shown in Figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11 for the four quarters making up one complete chime cycle, but, of course, that is a matter of option with the maker.

I claim 1. In a strike and chime clock constructed to chime the quarter hours and to strike the hours at the conclusion of the chime on the fourth quarter, the combination with a strike-train, of a chime-train, an hour-strike releasing-cam of gradual rise revolved by the said chime-train once for every cycle of the operation thereof, and an hour-strike releasing-lever co-acting with the strike train which it releases for striking the hour when the said lever drops off the said cam, whereby the power required to operate the said lever for releasing the strike-train is distributed over the four phases comprising one cycle of the operation of the chimetrain.

2. In a strike and chime clock, the combination with the front and rear movementplates thereof, of strike, time and chimetrains mounted in the said movement-plates, and lock work located in front of the front movement-plate, including a one-piece threearmed chime locking-lever located in front of the front movement-plate and having its respective arms engaged with the countwheel of the chime-train, a chime-releasing lever and a wheel of the chime-train, the said count-wheel and chime releasing-lever being located in front of the front movement plate and the said wheel of the chimetrain being located between the two movement-plates, whereby the said three-armed lever and the parts with which it co-acts are accessibly located in front of the front move ment-plate with the exception of the wheel of the chime-train which is located directly and provided with teeth co-acting with thesaid chime-hammers for the operation of the same.

- 4. In a strike and chime clock, the combination with a gang of chime-hammer bars each provided with an operating-finger and a stop-arm, of a corresponding series of chime-wheels co-acting with the operatingfingers of the respective hammer bars, a cutof! extending above the several stop-armsof the hammer-bars and having its lower face engaged by the upper edges thereof, and means for manually moving the said cut-off with respect to the said stop-arms to simultaneously lift all of the chime-hammer bars into their retired positions in which their opeiatingfingers clear the said chimewheels, the said cut-off arm being'positioned to act as an abutment for the said'stop-arms of the chime hammer-bars when the same drop into their striking positions.

5. In a strike-and chime clock, the combination with a strike-train and a chime-train, of a gang of chime-hammer bars each having an operating-finger and a stop-arm, a series ofdiiferentiated chime-wheels co-ating with the operating-fingers of the respective chime-hammer bars, a strike-hammer bar oscillating upon the same center as the said chime-hammer bars, means for driving the said chime-Wheels from the chime-train, means for actuating the said strike-hammer bar from the strike-train, a rocking segment acting as a stop-abutment for the strikehammer bar, and a combined stop and cutout arm mounted in the said segment and extending above and co-acting with the several stop-arms of the chime-hammer bars for limiting the movement thereof, and also for cutting them out of operation,.the movement of the segment cutting the chime-hammer bars out of play leaving it unaffected as a stop-abutment for. the strike-hammer bar. 6. In a strike and chime clock, the combination with a strike hammer-bar and a bank of chime hammer-bars mounted for inde pendent oscillation upon the same center, the strike hammer-bar being furnished with a hammer-tail and the chime hammer-bars being furnished with stop-arms, of a rocking segment, a cut-off arm mounted in the said segment and engaging with the stop-arm of the chime hammer-bars, and plugs mounted in the said segment for engagement by the said hammer tail for deadening the sound of the operation thereof.

7. In a strike and chime clock, the combination with the strike and chime-trains thereof, of a hammer-stud, a strike-hammer mounted upon the inner end of the said stud and provided at its inner end With a lifting arm, a bank of chime-hammers 8. In a strike and chime clock, the combi-.

nation with the front and rear movementpiates thereof, of a hammer-stud projecting from the said rear movement-plate, a strikehammer mounted thereupon at the inner end thereof, a bank of chime-hammers mounted upon the said hammer-stud, a chime-Wheel stud projecting rearward from the said rear movement-plate, a hub mounted upon the said chime-Wheel stud, a series of chimewheels mounted upon the said hub, means driven by the strike-train for actuating the strike-hammer," means driven by the chimetrain for actuating the said chime-hammers, and means for cutting the chime-hammers out of play, Without interfering with the action of the strike-hammer.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of tWo subscrib.

ing Witnesses.

FREDERICK W'EHINGER. Witnesses:

C. W. SHADER, J. R. PUTNAM. 

